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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

On my daily hunt for something new and cool I came across Glass (Beta). Glass is a nifty add-on for Chrome and Firefox that allows you to share and have a conversation with anyone on top of a web pages in real time. You also can move the Glass box anywhere on the web page.

I can see an endless number of uses for Glass. From Bloggers to girl friends doing a little virtual shopping together. Glass is currently in Beta, but in my early test everything seems to be working great. Would you like to try Glass? Sign-up for my Facebook Fan page, leave a comment and I'll send you an invitation code. I also would like to give a big thanks to Jenn at Write On Glass for sending me an invitation and responding so quickly.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Not everyone can afford a high tech security system, so today I will explain how Skype, Vitamin D and DropBox can provide you with what you need for free. If you've been keeping up with me you know I'm a fan of Skype from my post on How I Saved $1200 a year with Skype. Now we will take it up a level and use these three programs for instant access to your home. First If you don't have Skype download it from the link above. If you already have a Skype account you will need to make another account that will be specifically used for Security Only.

If your new to Skype you will need to make two accounts (primary & security). Don't worry the process only takes 2-3 minutes for each account setup. After you have created both accounts for the security account only (area under surveillance) in Skype's main window go to Tools-Options then Video Settings on the left panel (also setup web cam above) and on the bottom two columns select "people in my contact list only" for both. On the left panel go down to Calls and under Call Settings select only "allow people in my contact list to call me" then go to Show Advanced Options and select answer my incoming calls automatically and start my video automatically when I'm in a call. and click save. This is very important because our video camera will automatically activate when you call with your primary Skype account.

Now log back in to your primary account and go to the Skype main menu and select Contacts-New Contact (this can be done from either account). Input the Skype name you selected for the second account (Security Account) you created. After your name is located hit Add Contact and send. Log out of this account and back into your Security Account and approve the contact request. Make sure your web cam is pointed in the area you wish to view. Now do a test call account from the primary account to the security account and your web cam will instantly turn on giving you a view of your home.

Our next step is to setup Vitamin D. It is a simply security program that will record any motion detected in the room. They have a paid version that offers more features, but for our setup the free version is sufficient. In the Vitamin D main screen go to Tools-Options and select the amount of disk space you would like to use for storing the videos captured, and the amount of days for the videos to be kept. For now set disk space to about 1GB and I'll explain why shortly, and the number of days to whatever you choose then click OK.

At the main menu select View-Monitor View if your not already there. Then at the bottom left select the Add New Rule. From here you can name the recording and select exactly what images you would like to capture. Once you finish click OK.

For the final step we will use Dropbox. Dropbox allows you to access to your files over multiple computers or devices (see the D.B video via there website), and from the Dropbox website. Dropbox gives you 2GB's free which is why we selected 1GB of space for storing our video. That way you still have some space let if you choose to use the folder for other items. Create a folder and name it Security in Dropbox. Then make the Vitamin D file save location to that folder in D.B. That way not only can we access to our live video feed, but now you also have a video record that is saved off site just in case the unfortunate happened. Open Vitamin D back up and go to Tools-Options-More Video and click browse then change the file save location to the Dropbox folder.

Now you have a complete Video Surveillance System for free. For more tips like this sign up for my free email updates and you can also join me on Facebook or Twitter @maddencorner.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Reading today's title you may be thinking what's really techie about pizza? Well I'll tell you. If your house is like mine on Friday night then you already know that no one wants to cook after a long week. Pizza is normally our meal of choice, but I use to hate sitting on the phone and asking what are the specials and feeling rushed to explain exactly what I wanted. So I started ordering my pizza's online, and I haven't looked back since. Ordering your pizza online provides a huge convenience. You can visually see all the options, repeat your last order, set an order for up to 3 week in advance (different sites vary on advanced ordering), order via text message and the best part saving money with coupons codes.

Online sites like RetailMeNot always have coupon codes, and there users let you know how effect those codes have been. If you haven't already sign up and get a free account on your favorite pizza site or sites. Then make your order. On the checkout page you will see a box normally at the bottom for coupon or discount code. Go to Google and type in Pizza Hut coupon code, Domino's coupon code or whatever your hungry for (This step can be done first). See which code is best, copy it into the discount box and your done. Never pay more for pizza again, and save yourself time in the process. In the spirit of Follow Friday please take a moment and join me on Facebook.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Normally I'm focused on any thing dealing with technology, but today I wanted to take a moment and ask all of you to honor Staff Sgt.Salvatore Guinta. As a 16 year veteran of the United States Navy and having done a tour in Iraq and the Persian Gulf I understand the scarfice our troops make everyday. I also see things trend on Twitter that are not news worthy. So today I would like everyone to Retweet (message below) SSGT Guinta to the top of Twitter for his outstanding service to the United States of America, and for those who lost there lives he was trying to save.

I have mad respect for Staff Sgt. Salvatore Guinta, who will receive the Medal of Honor, http://unhub.com/CQTW#RetweetAHero

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

For the new blogger, blogging can be exciting and filled with challenges. You may be inspired to jump into the mix of how to blogs, but the most important part of any blog is content. Google's Blogger is a very popular platform used by a lot of bloggers today mainly because it's easy to use. Something that a lot of beginning bloggers may overlook is the importance of backing up their content. I've been blogging for about two years or so and now and I'm thinking of moving from Blogger to WordPress.

Exploring this process made me realize that you can import your blogger blog into WordPress very easily. Simply sign up for a WP blog. Once that's done in the main control panel under Tools click import. Select Blogger at the top of the page. Type in your blogger address. Follow the remaining steps and your done. Now just in case something ever happens to your blogger page you still have all your data.

The WordPress method gives you a copy in the cloud, but we are going to make a local copy just to be safe. Simply go to the Settings Tab in your Blogger account. Click Export blog, download and your done. Periodically you will want to go back to your WordPress account and redo the import process to update subsequent post you do on Blogger. I hope this helps Happy Blogging.

Friday, September 10, 2010

In the last few years the way we use our sell phones has rapidly change. People now have internet access everywhere. Take advantage of this by making your site mobile. Simply go to the Google Mobilizer type in your web address (choose to hide images if you wish) and your done!

Now this process will create a long URL and who's going to remember that? To make things nice and tidy let's use UnHub. (previous post). This will give you a shorter address making it easier to remember your mobile site (ex. Mysite). By using the UnHub bar you can link your other sites as well (repeat previous steps to your make other sites mobile), and the bar will remain at the top of the page even when clicking on links within the page. This may not be the fanciest way, but it will allow mobile phones to render your site easily, and its all free. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Have you Googled yourself? Do you know what the internet says about you? You don’t have to be a famous to have an online presence. I remember for my 16th birthday my mom got me my own phone line and my name was in the phone book. I was excited! If anyone wanted to find me they could look me up. For the younger generation this was the equivalent of getting your first cell phone in the late 80’s. Times have changed but the purpose has not. Today Google is pretty much the world phone book and controlling your online identity has never been more important. If someone Google’s your name what do you want them to find? Who the internet says you are or what you say? For some, tackling the internet may seem like a daunting task, but it’s pretty simple to start a blog, setup a Facebook profile, or register a domain name.

Everyone should own their own domain name (yourname.com). Employers today are definitely Googling the people they hire and employee's currently working for them. Sites like 1and1and Yahoo domainsoffer some great deals on your domain purchases. Once you get a domain you’re going to need to point it somewhere. You don’t have to do anything fancy you can simply point it at your facebook profile. So when someone types in web address (yourname.com) it will redirect them to your facebook page. In the facebook settings there is an option to make yourself searchable. Make sure that is on if you wish for people to find you.

Maybe you already have an online presence and just want to organize what you already have. This can be done with unhub.com(previous post). They allow you to make a profile bar that can display all of your websites or profiles that’s easy to set up and free. They also provide url shorteningas well.

Another great service you can point your web address to is Flavors.me. I use this as Flavors for my blog and twitter stream. You can try this for free, but to add your domain it’s $20 per year. I think it's well worth it though. We can’t talking about online identity without talking about Google. Google allows you to create a free profile and a personal page. They also provide a great feature by allowing people to contact you without revealing your email address. These are just a few resources you can use to jump start your web presence. Whether your the average Joe or a super blogger in the making controlling your online presence is the first place to start. Do you have any services you like? Let me know I’d love to hear about them.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about your privacy on Facebook ( Facebook Privacy Policy) . Even though Facebook has some of yo...

Disclosure: Sometimes products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog also some of the links in the post may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”